Barcelona
Eloi Maduell & Santi Vilanova
Fête des Lumières
Lyon · Featured Artist
Global
Houston · Prague · Frankfurt
Featured Works
Biography
Playmodes was founded in Barcelona in 2006 and is led by Eloi Maduell and Santi Vilanova. Maduell trained as a computer engineer and has spent more than two decades experimenting with creative programming, mathematics, physics, perception and audiovisual technologies. Vilanova trained in graphic design and developed a parallel practice in sound art and self-taught creative technology, influenced in part by the electronic and rave cultures of the early 2000s.
Together, they describe Playmodes as an audiovisual craft workshop: a place where code, soldering, musical structure and physical construction are treated as part of the same artistic process. Their work spans light sculptures, installations, kinetic instruments, audiovisual performance, architectural projection, theatre scenography and educational tools. Across these formats, the studio develops an abstract language of visual music in which sound and image are generated from shared systems rather than merely synchronised after production.
Playmodes has presented work internationally across all continents, with exhibitions and commissions in Shanghai, New York, Sydney, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Medellín and other cultural centres. Their installations have received international recognition in art, design and musical-instrument innovation. Sonògraf received the People’s Choice Award and an Honorable Mention for Education at the 2024 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech.
Practice
Playmodes creates spatial environments by designing systems rather than composing isolated images or sounds. Working across installation, audiovisual performance, architecture and public art, the studio develops original computational frameworks where light, sound, movement and space emerge from the same mathematical relationships.
Instrument-building lies at the heart of the practice. Custom software, electronic hardware, kinetic mechanisms and spatial audio systems are conceived alongside each artwork, allowing technical infrastructure and artistic intent to evolve together. Rather than adapting existing technologies, Playmodes develops purpose-built tools that enable entirely new forms of audiovisual expression.
Mathematics, physics and natural phenomena provide continual sources of inspiration. Algorithms, geometry and physical processes are translated into spatial environments where visitors experience invisible relationships through light, rhythm, architecture and sound. Across every project, technology functions not as spectacle but as a means of revealing the underlying structures that organise both the natural world and human perception.
MOLTEN Perspective
Playmodes occupies a unique position within contemporary spatial art by treating technology not as a collection of tools but as a material for artistic invention. Rather than creating work within existing software environments, the studio designs entirely new systems through which light, sound and movement are generated together. Their instruments are not simply devices for producing art; they are artworks in themselves.
What distinguishes the practice is the seamless integration of engineering, music and spatial composition. Every installation reveals an extraordinary level of conceptual and technical coherence, where mathematical structures become sensory experiences and architecture becomes an active participant in audiovisual composition. The resulting works possess a clarity and elegance that allows complex computational processes to be experienced intuitively rather than analytically.
Within the MOLTEN network, Playmodes represents one of the defining studios working at the intersection of art, science and immersive technology. Their practice demonstrates that innovation arises not from adopting new technologies, but from inventing entirely new ways of seeing, hearing and inhabiting space through systems designed expressly for artistic exploration.
Explore the Artist
Themes
Perception · Light · Sound · Time · Space · Rhythm · Participation · Transformation · Technology · Nature · Systems & Complexity
Commissioning Information
Suitable for — Light Festivals · Museum & Exhibition Contexts · Cultural Institution Commissions · Gallery Contexts · Large-Scale Public Art Commissions · Civic & Public Realm Projects · Architectural Commissions · Educational Programs · Public Art Commissions · Architectural Installations · Performing Arts Venues · Immersive Exhibitions
Industries — Arts & Culture · Museums · Education · Architecture · Performing Arts · Music · Technology · Public Realm · Corporate · Tourism
Project Types — Commission · Exhibition · Temporary Installation · Permanent Installation · Touring Work · Performance · Public Art Program · Educational Program · Scenography
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